Conviction in GOP voter-suppression scheme

[ProSense]

Conviction in GOP voter-suppression scheme

By Steve Benen

Last November, there was a fairly competitive gubernatorial race in Maryland. Late on Election Day, robocalls targeted more than 100,000 Democratic households, telling voters to “relax” and not bother voting because Dems were going to win. It was one of the most blatant examples of GOP voter-suppression tactics in a long while.

Fortunately, those responsible got caught. Yesterday, a jury convicted the Republican ringleader.

Paul E. Schurick, the 2010 campaign manager for former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., was convicted Tuesday by a Baltimore jury of four counts stemming from a robocall that prosecutors said was intended to suppress the black vote.

The call, which Schurick acknowledged authorizing, was placed on Election Day to 112,000 voters in Baltimore and Prince George’s County, the state’s two largest majority-African American jurisdictions. Recipients were told by an unidentified woman that they could “relax” because Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) had been successful.

Fortunately, other members of the former Republican governor’s team will also stand trial for their role.

Obviously, there’s a problem when Republican officials believe the best way to win an election is to suppress political participation. But the larger issue here is that GOP officials keep pushing the “war on voting,” putting new hurdles between voters and the ballot box, ostensibly because they fear the scourge of fraud.

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[Blue Owl]

1. I'm sure this is one isolated incident, not part of a larger pattern

:sarcasm:

[yellowcanine]

2. GOVERNOR HAIRLICK had NOTHING to do with this so STOP SAYING THAT!

Oh, that isn't actually what you said? NEVER MIND.

[Sheepshank]

3. one of several continued voter supression tactics.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/c6e5e5c522d847948279649815095071/ME--Voter-Registration-Impact/

AUGUSTA, Maine — Now that Maine voters have made clear their support for same-day voter registration, the focus shifts to another hot election-related proposal that will come up during the 2012 legislative session: voter ID.

The bill requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast ballots comes up after voters rejected by a 3-2 margin Tuesday another move to tighten the state's election laws.

That vote repealed a law requiring voters to register at least two days before an election. In doing so, voters reinstated Maine's long-standing same-day registration policy.
.....
The voter ID bill should be considered on its own merits, he added. Nutting expects the bill to have a full review.

The voter ID bill had more than 80 co-sponsors — all Republicans — when Rep. Richard Cebra introduced it

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_12/voterid_schemes_keep_snagging033927.php

Republican policymakers across the country are pushing a variety of schemes as part of the “war on voting,” but none are as pernicious as voter-ID measures. The practical effect of these laws will be to keep more minorities and senior citizens from participating in elections.

And the examples to reinforce the concerns keep piling up. Tanya Somanader yesterday highlighted the story of Wisconsin’s Ruthelle Frank, who’s been voting for 63 years.

Though paralyzed on her left side since birth, the 84-year-old “fiery woman” voted in every election since 1948 and even got elected herself as a member of the Brokaw Village Board. But because of the state’s new voter ID law, 2012 will be the first year Frank can’t vote. Born after a difficult birth at her home in 1927, Frank never received an official birth certificate. Her mother recorded it in her family Bible and Frank has a certification of baptism from a few months later, along with a Social Security card, a Medicare statement, and a checkbook. But without the official document, she can’t secure the state ID card that the new law requires to vote next year.
Just think about it...who are these laws hurting?

Generally these actions and laws are more harmful to the poor, the elderly and students. The relatively small numbers of big donors, and the wealthy are overwhlemed by the actual numbers of people that will vote in their own best interests and NOT the interests of the wealthy. Therefore part of the the strategy surely includes a several pronged approach to reducing those the number of votes cast by liberal, socialist, democrats, as much as possible. There is a reason there is a push from the right to continually attack the voting process and try to create laws that hinder, remove or reduce voter rights.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Nice to have the conviction come BEFORE the next election.

With the GOP currently trying to suppress the vote state by state, there should be no question as to who we need to keep an eye on when it comes cheating and trying to steal elections.

[RBInMaine]

5. In Maine we CRUSHED the GOP war on voting here. These BS laws need to be attacked in the courts and

at the ballot box.